by Dorian McKenzie
Daily Lobo
I miss the rivalry. I miss the constant do-or-die feeling of each game. The feeling of wanting your team to win so badly you think each play could be the one to change it all.
That used to be the feeling Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees fans would get when the two teams would meet up. However, this legendary rivalry seems to be dying off.
When Boston beat New York and won the World Series in 2004, the Red Sox not only reversed the curse, they seemed to inflict a new one - this time on the Yankees. Is it possible? At the very least, that season seems to have taken some edge off the rivalry, and that's not fun.
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Let's go back to the days when Pedro Martinez attacked old man Don Zimmer and threw him down by his head, or even when Alex Rodriguez got punched in the mouth by Jason Varitek. That's what this rivalry is all about. It's a controlled hatred for the opposing team because they're better than you, because they disrespected you or because it's simply tradition. This year just doesn't have it.
You would think this season, of all seasons, is especially worthy of rivalry.
For starters, look at the Johnny Damon trade. The former Red Sox outfielder, who in May swore to Boston fans he would never leave them for New York, gave into Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and put on the pinstripes. Big surprise. Well, for $52 million over four years, not really. This threw some Boston fans over the edge. They were livid, showing signs that read, "Throws like Mary, looks like Jesus, acts like Judas." And upon his return to Fenway Park, he was booed, but after that, the animosity was pretty much over.
I thought the Damon trade would spark a flame for a more intense rivalry, but it didn't seem to happen. Fans were ticked off for a while but then forgot about it. If that would have happened to the Yankees, New Yorkers would have gone crazy. Lives would be in danger. Steinbrenner would cry and buy a hockey team. The Italian mob - that is the Yankee fan base - would track down the traitor and take care of him, and we would all just become Kansas City Royals fans. Embarrassing, I know. But in a way, I guess Red Sox fans are just used to giving up, especially after 26 Yankee championships.
So, hopefully the rest of the season will be more exciting. The Yankees are only a couple games ahead of the Sox in the standings, and they need to pull away. But they need to do it fast, because there seems to be more tension in the Yankees' dugout than between Boston and New York.
Captain Derek Jeter has probably had it with Rodriguez, the pretty-boy third baseman. If Jeter has to watch A-Rod mess up another play, I think he's going to run up to him and pull a Zinedine Zidane head-butt out of sheer frustration. And if that doesn't work, then 'roid-raging Giambi can take it into his own massive hands.
But the real rivalry is dying. Does someone have to lose for the next 80 years to bring it back? I hope not. Maybe Yankees fans can pull together and start throwing stuff on the field, or Sox fans can resume interfering with important plays while holding overpriced beer in their hands.
So bring back the intensity. Bring it back to where every time the Yankees and Sox meet in the playoffs, it goes to seven intense games. Just give me the bench-clearing brawls. Get the fans riled up, and I'm happy.
